However the match is over for Smith and fellow Australians Lucas Herbert and Jed Morgan. Smith had his work reduce out after a tough opening spherical and his hopes of a quick begin have been rapidly scuppered on Saturday.
The Queenslander discovered the thick, tough stuff in entrance of the inexperienced on the par-three second, and swished angrily on the grass after failing to get inside 9 metres along with his second shot.
American Collin Morikawa shares the lead.Credit score:Getty Photographs
After a bogey there, his temper hardly improved with additional dropped photographs on the fourth and sixth, leaving him with a mountain to make it to the weekend. Nevertheless it solely bought worse, a wayward drive on the tenth and the failure to extricate himself from a troublesome greenside lie on the fifteenth main to 2 extra bogeys.
A tee shot to 5 foot on the par-three sixteenth ultimately earned Smith his first birdie in 23 holes, but it surely was too little to late.
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Herbert crashed to 13 over with a horror 79, whereas Morgan ended at 16 over after following up his disastrous opening 82 with a 74.
Six-time US Open runner-up Phil Mickelson, who has develop into the face of the Saudi-backed LIV collection, missed the reduce after an 11 over whole that was higher than solely two different rivals from the breakaway circuit.
Chasing the third leg of a profession grand slam, Morikawa grabbed a share of the lead at 5 below with a 66, the low spherical of the day.
Dahmen fired a 68 because the leaders claimed a one-stroke benefit over 5 gamers, together with pre-tournament favorite Rory McIlroy (69) and defending champion John Rahm (67).
